This invention relates to mechanisms for regulating the speed of relative movement of members toward a position to which they are biased by means which decrease in biasing force as movement occurs, and in one aspect to such mechanisms used in toy timing devices.
Many such mechanisms are known. Most of such mechanisms, however, contain many moving parts and are too expensive for use in inexpensive toys such as are used as premiums in boxes of cereal. My U.S. patent application Ser. No. 806,855 describes a simple inexpensive mechanism in which lengths of a rubber band tensioned across ribs slip and stick along a continuous surface and provide an escapement-like mechanism to control the speed of relative movement of such members. While that mechanism produces a ticking-like sound which is desirable in a toy timing device, the speed control it provides is not as predictable or repeatable as is desired for such a toy.